Domain names were originally restricted to top-level domain (TLDs) names having the .com, .net, and .org extensions as some examples or country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) having the .us, .ca, and .eu extensions as some examples. Now, there are many generic top-level domains (gTLDs), international top-level domains (iTLDs), and other new top-level domains that provide different domain name extensions including domain names with .app, .business, .build, .site, and .shop extensions as gTLD examples and domain names with Chinese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and other non-Latin character extensions as iTLD examples.
Registries manage the domain name allocation of different TLDs, ccTLDs, gTLDs, and iTLDs. Registrars are typically accredited organizations that sell the domain names from one or more registries to the public. In addition to registries and registrars, there are also resellers and domain name check and pricing servers. Resellers are directly or indirectly approved or licensed by the Internet Corporation Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to sell domain names in secondary markets or through third party sites. Domain name check and pricing services obtain availability and pricing of domain names from one or more registries, registrars, and resellers, and therefore can act to bridge the independent operation of these entities.
Registries and registrars traditionally have not differentiated between different domain names. All domain names on the original TLDs of .com, .net, and .org and ccTLDs are sold for a fixed price regardless of whether the domain names are highly sought after domain names such as short domain names, single word domain names, easily recognizable or memorable domain names, or domain names with a specific meaning or identifying some product or service as some examples. The newer gTLD's such as .build and others have the ability to create unique pricing for specific domain names. Registries set an initial price for the domain names under their control and the registrars typically markup those prices when selling the domain names to the public. The registrar is therefore an extension of the registry with the registry acting as the domain name wholesaler and registrar acting as the domain name retailer.
Secondary markets and auction sites can however differentiate between meaningful and desirable domain names and other arbitrary domain names. In fact, their primary objective is to identify and obtain meaningful and desirable domain names in order to sell them at premium prices. This model has encouraged squatters and other entities that have no intention of using a domain name to acquire meaningful and desirable domain names. Squatters hold on to the domain names until they can sell the domain names at inflated premium prices that generate profits for the squatters.
There is therefore a need to introduce automated intelligence to reduce the role of secondary markets and auction sites and dissuade squatters from buying domain names with no intention of using those domain names. To this end, there is a need to differentiate meaningful and desirable domain names from other arbitrary domain names. Furthermore, there is a need to differentiate pricing for these meaningful and desirable domain names from other arbitrary domain names. Differentiated pricing dissuades buyers that have no intention of using the domain names from squatting on the domain names as the initial cost of acquiring the domain name is increased, thereby making it more difficult and unlikely to profit from the resale of the domain name. In turn, the role of secondary markets and auction sites is reduced, thereby making it easier for potential buyers to directly acquire meaningful or desirable domain names as opposed to searching various secondary market sites in attempts to find a desirable domain name.